I guess that the old adage, "may the buyer beware" needs to be in place here. New people need to do some research and ask questions but I would think that good research comes first. Unfortunately, in every field, that is the problem. Car dealers dupe millions of people every year by taking the customer into the finance office to buy the vehicle. In fact, the dealer will never try to give you the best deal on the financing. If you want that, you have to get the financing through an outside company that will work for you.. The dealer works for himself. The finance man gets his commission off of any additional products he can sell so they are highly motivated to add stuff on. Only research will reveal that. I was cheated for years because I was too lazy to do the research. The martial arts public feeds the problem by not doing their homework. As aikido becomes more popular, this may be a trend. I know one dojo where the instructor is now offering his own ranks. He did so after realizing that every one coming through the door didn't know who the Hombu Dojo was until he told them. At some point, he decided to keep the money he was sending to the Main Headquarters for himself which was all legal and proper. The ethical problem is that he is taking advantage of the public's ignorance because they don't realize that his certificates aren't as valuable as the ones from the Hombu. We can fight it at least by educating the people who come to check out our dojos on what they should look for in a martial arts school.
Best wishes,